IDSA Applauds Anti-Pirate Efforts

A new report has singled out the Ukraine for its failure to control piracy.

By IGN Staff

The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) officially commended the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for its annual 301 report released yesterday.

The IDSA also praised the current administration's commitment to protect entertainment software companies' intellectual property rights.

The report designates Ukraine as a "Priority Foreign Country" for its failure to control production and export of pirate copyrighted products throughout Europe and Asia and bring its copyright protection and enforcement regime up to international standards. This is a major step toward possible trade sanctions. Moreover, USTR placed 16 countries on the "Priority Watch List" and 32 countries on the "Watch List" for further scrutiny. Priority Watch List countries include Egypt, India, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia and Taiwan. In addition, USTR will continue to monitor China and Paraguay.

"The massive and systematic export of pirated products, especially from countries like Taiwan and Malaysia, remains one of our greatest concerns. Thus, we especially commend the USTR for placing both Taiwan and Malaysia on the Priority Watch List," said IDSA President Doug Lowenstein.

In February, the IDSA, the trade association representing U.S. interactive entertainment software publishers, reported that in the year 2000 American computer and video game publishers continued to lose billions of dollars due to global piracy of packaged products. Pirate factories in Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia were singled out as major centers of pirate game production.